As part of the LymeX public-private partnership between Health & Human Services (HHS) and the Cohen Foundation, HHS has published an RFI in the Federal Register, 2.11.21 that seeks information on the current state of the science and technology to accelerate “innovative solutions” for Lyme disease diagnosis. The RFI contains a series of questions it […]
Feb. 24, 2021 – the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has indicated Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine has met requirements for emergency use authorization (EUA). The report from staff will be used to brief the Vaccines & Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting, Feb. 26, to review Johnson & Johnson’s application for EUA of the […]
“Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention Practices for Lyme Disease by Clinicians, United States, 2013-2015” by Alyssa R. Beck, MPH, Grace E. Marx, MD, and Alison F. Hinckley, PhD, published in Public Health Report, February 4, 2021, presented a study the objective of which “was to better understand factors associated with clinical practices related to tick bites […]
A study by Mikhail et al in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Feb. 2021, from 2006 to 2017 showed 19,469 beneficiaries had babesiosis recorded, a substantial increase. The highest states by rates were Massachusetts (62), Rhode Island (61), Connecticut (51), New York (30), and New Jersey (19). States previously considered nonendemic saw increases: New Hampshire, Maine, […]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has provided an update in the federal agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) on February 19, 2021, regarding the first month of COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring in the US from December 14, 2020 through January 13, 2021. The report covers the two COVID-19 vaccines, developed by Pfizer BioNTech […]
The Access to Care Subcommittee unanimously recommended the following Potential Action.
Working Group Access to Care Subcommittee Report, Potential Action 4: Recommend that CDC provide input to the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, CSTE, that the Lyme disease surveillance case definition be revised such that it abandons the use of geographic parameters for Lyme disease.
Dr. Montgomery McFate, Professor, U.S. Naval War College, published, “The Myths of Lyme Disease: Separating Fact from Fiction for Military Personnel,” in Joint Force Quarterly, 100, Feb. 16, 2021. Dr. McFate addresses, in the well-cited article, many damaging myths regarding Lyme that have proliferated in the medical system since its discovery over 40 years ago. She describes how these myths harm military personnel, a population that is particularly at risk for exposure to Lyme disease.
The Tick-Borne Disease Working Group 2020 Report to Congress is now available (Report). The Report was presented to the Secretary of Health & Human Services in December 2020 by the Working Group (WG). The Secretary sent the Report to the Energy & Commerce Committee in the House of Representatives and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions […]
Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Research Center’s recently released Winter 2021 Newsletter addresses the confusing new IDSA guidelines, calls attention to the similarities between common COVID-19 long hauler symptoms and persistent Lyme disease, as well as provides insights to significant advances made by their Lyme disease clinical research program, despite challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study, “A murine model of lyme disease demonstrates that Borrelia burgdorferi colonizes the dura mater and induces inflammation in the central nervous system,” was published in the journal PLOS Pathogens. Prior to this, studies using inbred laboratory mice to observe B. burgdorferi infection and host immune responses in the central nervous system (CNS) were lacking, creating a major barrier to understanding the neuropathologies associated with Lyme disease.